May 7, 2021
A woman walks by the Health Ministry in Phnom Penh on January 29, 2020 (Panha Chorpoan/VOD)

Covid-19 Case Details Withheld, Market Closures Extended a Week

The Health Ministry is withholding Covid-19 case details under leaders’ instructions, as they are kept at the provincial level, preparing them nationally could take too long, neighboring countries also give only broad totals, and officials want to do more analysis, a spokesperson said.

A gold bar (Bullion Vault/Flickr)

Cambodia’s Gold Exports Balloon to $3 Billion

Gold exports through “private transactions” jumped some 676 percent, from $388 million to $3 billion last year, with some attributing the surge to investors selling their holdings due to a price rise, and others suggesting a potential link to gold smuggling to Vietnam.

Phuon Keoreaksmey outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on May 5, 2021. (Sok Chantravuth/VOD)

Embassies, Rights Advocates Decry Mother Nature Verdict

Foreign embassies and rights advocates have decried the sentencing of three members of an environmentalist group to more than a year in prison over their activism, with some, including the group’s founder, saying they should be released and their calls for environmental protection supported rather than criminalized.